WINSLOW -- School board members on Monday evening rejected a proposal to regionalize with the six other communities comprising School Union 52 and Messalonskee School District.

The unanimous vote came after several members voiced concerns that the merger would hand over too much control to other communities and result in a cumbersome, inefficient organization.

"If teachers could be arbitrarily reassigned, I have a hard time with that," school board member Wendy Roy said. "I think the size is too big."

Winslow Town Councilor Brad Grant raised a concern for which no one seemed to have a ready, definitive answer: It appears, he said, that joining a regional school unit under the current language of the agreement would involve handing over town-owned properties to the school unit.

"If that's so, then I don't think that's anything that any town councilors know about," Grant said. "I think that's wrong, and it will come up in the next town council meeting."

Others spoke out in favor of the move, although most still expressed reservations.

"What you have before you is fair to Winslow," Winslow Town Council Chairman Gerald Saint Amand told the board. "The basic plan is solid."

Winslow Town Manager Michael Heavener said he believes board members' counterparts in Messalonskee communities are acting in good faith.

"Our neighbors are just like us; they have the same fears," he said, encouraging the board to allow Winslow voters to decide on the proposal in November. "Sometimes, you just have to take a leap of faith."

School board members did not leap. Winslow was the first of the seven communities to vote on the proposal. School board votes are the second in a four-step process that the consolidation law requires. If given approval by the boards, the plan must then go to Education Commissioner Susan Gendron for approval.

The school boards of Messalonskee and China will take up the matter Wednesday evening. Communities included in the proposal are China, Winslow, Vassalboro, Oakland, Sidney, Belgrade and Rome.

Phil St. Onge, long an outspoken critic of the push for consolidation, said he approved of the school board's decision. "The school board showed common sense tonight," he said. "Because even Caesar's empire didn't extend from Rome to China."

Joel Elliott -- 861-9252

jelliott@centralmaine.com